In Palm Beach County, Fla., the city of Riviera Beach is a growing harbor city with a population of 35,000. The city’s Department of Community Development, which is responsible for planning and zoning, building and engineering, has worked for several years to perform annual roadway restoration or reconstruction projects in an economically depressed part of town, aiming to improve property values and develop a new sense of community for the residents. The department has undertaken these roadway projects with the help of funds from federal Community Development Block Grants, and until recently, it has been forced to outsource much of the design work to consultants. But in 2007, the city adopted AutoCAD Civil 3D software, which has allowed it to take the work in-house, cutting costs and allocating internal resources more effectively.

By Nancy Mann Jackson, Guest Blogger City and county governments are always looking for ways to plan, design, build and manage transportation infrastructure projects smarter, faster and more affordably. And many of them use various Autodesk solutions to make that happen. With Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Premium, local governments have access to a comprehensive civil engineering and transportation infrastructure solution as a single economical and convenient purchase. The suite includes six Autodesk software tools that give municipalities everything they need to plan, design, build and manage road and highway projects in house and on budget. Here’s how these Autodesk tools have helped solve transportation infrastructure challenges for some local governments.

Virginia’s Governor, Bob McDonnell, made efforts to push “Shovel Ready” projects into high gear recently by stating: "Without an adequate transportation system, almost every aspect of our daily lives and government are negatively impacted…Therefore, we must get serious and start treating transportation like a core function of government."

Ever wondered who is responsible for the design and construction of many of the award-winning civic facilities in New York? With a portfolio valued at over $6 billion and a staff of almost 1,200, the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is the city’s primary capital construction and infrastructure project manager. DDC is also an innovator in the use of GIS and building information modeling (BIM) for which it was awarded runner-up status in the first ever [acronym] Magazine Public Sector CAD Awards, held last November in Washington, D.C. DDC employs a variety of Autodesk digital design tools to minimize errors in the design process, improve collaboration across stakeholders and reduce project complexity, while making more effective use of public funds. Included in its design arsenal are Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and AutoCAD MEP for design coordination, documentation and visualization. While Navisworks and Solibri Model Checker are also used for coordination and model conflict resolution and serve other uses as well.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic is incredibly frustrating when you have no idea as to the cause of it. That’s the way it goes in the Washington, DC metro area! And, while I know there is construction and repair to the transportation arteries in and around the DC metro area, seemingly, I must have the world’s worst short term memory, because every day I get frustrated in my effort to get home. Until the other day… Speaking recently in Kansas, President Obama said, “I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot”. Hearing the President talk about the US facing “a make or break moment for the middle class”: I recalled from high school history class that middle class growth was at its greatest starting in the 50’s and throughout the 70’s. So, I got on the “Google Machine” and started searching for any information that would satisfy my curiosity about middle class growth during that 30 year period and its contributors. One of the biggest contributors to job growth and the rise of the US middle class was Infrastructure expansion. Two years ago the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law giving $46 billion for transportation projects, including $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $11.5 billion for mass transit and rail projects. Wow, I thought, this ought to create jobs and alleviate the congestion that causes me so much aggravation; that was 2 years ago!! What happened?

Despite ongoing news reports of a down economy, at least two states pledged last month to spend big in FY’ 2012 to upgrade their infrastructure including roads, highways and mass-transit systems. California Transportation Commission (CTC) recently announced it has allocated $825 million in new funding for upcoming infrastructure projects. The expense is being touted as a way to create jobs and improve transportation for Californians. Part of the funding is allocated specifically for projects using a design-build project management system that offers a change from the traditional construction projects to create a single point of responsibility and reduce risk and cost. This process is currently being utilized in 32 other states, and many other countries.

On August 1, 2007, the I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed injuring 144 people and killing 13. The official accident report cites the cause for collapse as poor quality control, insufficient design review procedures, and a lack of due diligence in weight monitoring of construction equipment parked on the bridge. Investigative reporter, Bill Dedman, reported the immediately available details of the accident noting the bridge had recently been rated Among the Nation’s Worst. In 2007, the I-35 bridge ranked barely better than 4% of the nation’s bridges.

David Lingebach is the Director of Government Services at CADD Centers of Florida, a Gold Autodesk Partner based in Ft Lauderdale, FL. For the past 6 years, David has been working exclusively with government agencies, helping to implement and support the use of Autodesk design tools. The City of Riviera Beach is a small harbor city in Palm Beach County, Florida. Like many local governments across the country, Riviera Beach has struggled over the past few years to continue to improve city infrastructure with a tight budget and limited human resources. Federal funding programs, like the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, continue to channel funds for the construction of renovations and repairs to local roads. Grants like the CDBG, however, often come with a price to public works departments for the costs of designs, design tools, and skilled personnel not covered by the grant. Further, these grants most often include deadlines for use that force cities like Riviera Beach to complete projects quickly and with little room for errors or delays.

Green buildings, green transportation, green computing, in fact all things green, is a hot trend. In the public sector, “green” isn’t just the ideal – “green” is mandated. Since the Obama administration moved into the White House, green legislation and “green IT’ directives have been fast-tracked culminating in October 2009 with Executive Order 13514 which, to quote the White House: “…expands the energy reduction and environmental requirements of Executive Order 13423 by making reductions of greenhouse gas emissions a priority of the Federal government, and by requiring agencies to develop sustainability plans focused on cost-effective projects and programs.”

The Last Frontier State leads the way using 3D design technology to design, build and maintain transportation projects in the toughest of environments. Alaska’s rough terrain, cold weather and thousands of miles of coastline present a transportation management challenge that most state managers don’t have to face every day. What’s more, managers have to factor in the high cost of labor in Alaska and the lengthy environmental permitting process before they can kick off any state transportation project.